A 175-metre-long two-lane bridge across Phalguni (Gurupura) River on National Highway 169 that was completed in a record time of 15 months was inaugurated on Friday near here.
Dakshina Kannada MP and State BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel, who was instrumental in getting the bridge completed ahead of the schedule, and district in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojari inaugurated the bridge in the presence of Mangaluru City North MLA Y. Bharath Shetty and others.
The bridge has come as a breather to thousands of travellers between Mangaluru-Moodbidri-Karkala on the busy NH. The age-old steel bridge had become dilapidated and was a cause for concern for road users. The highway is also under the process of getting widened to four lanes.
The bridge was constructed at an estimated cost of ₹30 crore by contractor Sudhakar Shetty of Mugrodi Construction. Work started in February last and the contractor had time till February next. While the two-lane carriageway is 16 metres wide, the bridge has 2.5-metre-wide pedestrian paths on both the sides. New approach roads of 500 metres each were also part of the project.
